Penguins name Todd Reirden, Mike Vellucci as assistant coaches

Todd Reirden interviewed for a job with Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford before.

Back in spring 2014, after Dan Bylsma was fired as head coach, the Penguins were ready to name Willie Desjardins as his successor with Reirden retaining his position as an assistant coach.

Things fell through with Desjardins — who ended up having a thoroughly unremarkable tenure as the Vancouver Canucks’ coach — and Reirden joined the rival Washington Capitals as an assistant, winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.

More than six years later, the Penguins didn’t hesitate to bring Reirden back into the fold.

On Wednesday, the team named Reirden as an assistant coach along with Mike Vellucci, previously head coach and general manager of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

After a first-round exit for the second consecutive postseason, Reirden was fired as the Capitals head coach Aug. 23 with two years remaining on his contract. The Penguins quickly sought permission from the Capitals to interview Reirden for one of their vacant assistant coaching positions.

“There (were) some other conversations (with other teams) certainly after I was let go by the Capitals,” Reirden said via video conference. “But this was immediate and they were extremely aggressive after getting permission. Having conversations and interviews with (head coach Mike Sullivan) and Jim, I was immediately drawn to them in terms of their detail, their passion, their excitement to getting back to the (Stanley) Cup days of just a few years ago.

“It was something that just seemed to go full circle. The way it happened here was a perfect fit for everyone involved.”

Reirden, 49, initially joined the Penguins as an assistant coach on Bylsma’s staff with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2008-09, then was promoted as head coach when Bylsma took over the NHL club in February 2009. By the start of the 2010-11 season, Reirden was promoted to assistant coach in Pittsburgh and held that role until he joined the Capitals.

He’ll have the same duties as he did in his previous tenure with the Penguins, overseeing the team’s defensemen and power play.

With the Penguins, Reirden was instrumental in helping turn Kris Letang into an All-Star while also elevating the games of other defensemen such as Matt Niskanen and Deryk Engelland.

In Washington, where he served as an assistant coach for four seasons before taking over as a head coach the past two seasons after his successor, Barry Trotz, departed over a contract dispute, Reirden helped John Carlson become one of the NHL’s premier defensemen while helping blueliners such as Michal Kempny and Jonas Siegenthaler establish themselves as regulars.

In his second go-around with the Penguins, he’ll have a strong group of top-four defensemen to work with in Letang, Brian Dumoulin, John Marino and Marcus Pettersson.

“I’m not surprised to see Kris have continued success over the years,” Reirden said. “Brian Dumoulin is a guy that really continues to get better year after year. It was disappointing for the Penguins to not have him healthy (throughout 2019-20 due to an ankle injury). That was one of the things that made things more difficult. He’s really blossomed. Not only a good defender as we all know … but he’s able to add some more offensive tools to his game. And in addition to that, his leadership, you can see it. When you’re on the opposite bench, you can see certain guys that take charge in situations, and he’s one of them.

“The combination of Marcus and Marino are interesting to me. They’re players I’m not that familiar with. Obviously watched many videos of them … and know their tendencies and details in getting ready for this opportunity. That’s a really strong top four.”

Reirden, without solicitation, even offered an endorsement of oft-criticized defenseman Jack Johnson.

“To me, Jack Johnson, I think he had a decent year (in 2019-20), and he fits in as a nice third-pairing (defenseman),” Reirden said. “Certainly the makings of three good pairings there and just trying to figure out who works best with who.”

During Reirden’s four seasons orchestrating the power play for the Penguins, they had a conversion rate of 20.3% (23 for 1,048) and were first in the NHL during his last season in Pittsburgh (2013-14) with a rate of 23.4% (65 for 278).

Reirden’s familiarity with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Letang appealed to management.

“It was certainly part of the discussion,” Sullivan said. “The fact that he has an established relationship with our core guys should serve us well. It should make the transition more seamless. The time factor to build that necessary trust that’s important in coaching should be quicker and more seamless because of his established relationships. That’s certainly something that Jim and I discussed when going through this process.”

The process appeared to catch Vellucci off guard a bit.

Vellucci, hired to operate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in August 2019, didn’t exactly have any grand designs on using the AHL Penguins as a stepping stone to the NHL like so many other coaches who have rolled through Northeast Pennsylvania over the past two decades, including Reirden and Sullivan.

“When I first came here, my first goal was to develop and win another championship in Wilkes,” said Vellucci, who will direct the forwards and penalty kill. “This was a little surprising. I’m obviously very excited to work with Mike and Todd. … Coming here was just a plan to do what I had been doing the last several years.”

Despite being a coach at various levels for roughly a quarter of a century, the 54-year-old Vellucci never has worked at the NHL level. And he always has been a head coach during his career behind the bench, whether it be with junior teams such as the Compuware Ambassadors and Plymouth Whalers or the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers, a team he led to the Calder Cup championship in 2019.

This will be a new experience for Vellucci on a lot of levels.

“I haven’t done it before,” Vellucci said. “But I know I’m a good teammate. I’m really excited to be a good teammate. Give my opinion when it’s asked for. I’ve had chances to move up at other times, but this is just the best opportunity as far as learning.

“I’ve been able to talk with (Sullivan) for the last year and a half and finding out what a great person he his, more than coach. He’s very inclusive. He’s asked me questions before in our meetings and my likes and things like that. I just felt very welcomed and excited about the opportunity.”

A search for a new coach in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has begun.

The Penguins cut ties with incumbent assistant coaches Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin and Mark Recchi on Aug. 12 when they announced their contracts would not be renewed. While Martin and Recchi’s duties behind the bench will be accounted for by Reirden and Vellucci, Gonchar’s role as a development coach for the defensemen will not be filled at this time, according to Sullivan.

Additionally, goaltending coach Mike Buckley was given a two-year contract extension, which will keep him on staff through the 2021-22 season.

“Jim went through a pretty extensive process to try to find the right fits for our staff,” Sullivan said. “We just feel strong that these guys are a great fit. They’re really good coaches first and foremost. They have a wealth of experience in a lot of different capacities. They’ve won championships at different respective levels. So they know what it takes to win a championship. We felt as thought through the interview process these guys were a good fit for us.”